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Freedmen's Bureau
Acted as an early welfare agency, providing food, shelter, and medical aid for those made destitute by the war-both blacks (chiefly freed slaves) and homeless whites. At first, the Freedmen's Bureau had authority to resettle freed blacks on confiscated farm lands in the South. -
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Black Codes
Laws that continued to restrict the rights of African Americans. -
Wade Davis Bill
Required 50 percent of the voters of a state to take a loyalty oath and permitted only non-Confederates to vote for a new state constitution. -
Civil Rights Act of 1866
Pronounced all African Americans to be U.S. citizens (thereby repudiating the decision in the Dred Scott case) and also attempted to provide a legal shield against the operation of the Southern states' Black Codes. Republicans feared, however, that the law could be repealed if the Democrats ever won control of Congress. -
Reconstruction Acts of 1867
The acts divided the former Confederate states into five military districts, each under the control of the Union army. In addition, the Reconstruction acts increased the requirements for gaining read- mission to the Union. To win such readmission, an ex-Confederate state had to ratify the 14th Amendment and place guarantees in its constitution for granting the franchise (right to vote) to all adult males, regardless of race. -
Fourteenth Amendment
Declared that all persons born or naturalized in the United States were citizens. Also obligated the states to respect the rights of U.S. citizens and provide them with "equal protection of the laws" and "due process of law" ( clauses full of meaning for future generations). -
Fifteenth Amendment
Prohibited any state from denying or abridging a citizen's right to vote "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." It was ratified in 1870. -
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Sharecropping
Landlord provided the seed and other needed farm supplies in return for a share (usually half) of the harvest. While this system gave poor people of the rural South (whites as well as African Americans) the opportunity to work a piece of land for them- selves, sharecroppers usually remained either dependent on the landowners or in debt to local merchants. -
Civil Rights Act of 1875
Guaranteed equal accommodations in public places (hotels, railroads, and theaters) and prohibited courts from excluding African Americans from juries. However, the law was poorly enforced. -
The Compromise of 1877
Leaders of the two parties worked out an informal deal. The Democrats would allow Hayes to become president. In return, he would (1) immediately end federal support for the Republicans in the South, and (2) support the building of a Southern transcontinental railroad.